Many pesticides require the addition of an adjuvant to the spray mixture to provide wetting and spreading on foliar surfaces. Often that adjuvant is a surfactant, which can perform a variety of functions, such as increasing spray droplet retention on difficult to wet leaf surfaces, or to provide penetration of the herbicide into the plant cuticle. These adjuvants are either provided as a component in an adjuvant formulation or used as an additive in herbicide formulations.
Trisiloxane alkoxylates are well known for their ability to provide enhanced spreading and wetting properties to pesticide spray solutions, relative to more commonly used organic based (nonsilicone) surfactants. At times it is necessary to include other surfactants in the spray mixture along with the trisiloxane alkoxylate. Unfortunately, the presence of many classes of cosurfactants interfere with the performance of the trisiloxane alkoxylate.